Asian Giant Hornet

The Asian giant hornet is the largest hornet species in the world, native to temperate and tropical forests of East, South and Southeast Asia, with adult queens reaching several centimetres in length. It has a distinctive large orange-yellow head, dark thorax and yellow-and-brown banded abdomen, and it builds underground nests, often in abandoned rodent burrows or hollowed tree roots. The species preys heavily on other insects, most notably honeybees, and a small group of hornets can destroy an entire honeybee colony in a matter of hours by decapitating its workers to seize the brood as food for their own larvae, a behavior that has made the hornet a serious concern for beekeepers, particularly where it has become established outside its native range. Its sting is unusually large and delivers a potent venom that can cause severe reactions and, in a small number of cases each year, human deaths, mainly in the areas of Asia where it is most common. Sightings in North America in the early 2020s, and the resulting eradication efforts, brought the species widespread media attention under the nickname murder hornet.